Source Code follows a CIA counterterrorism director who finds evidence that contradicts the official account surrounding a downed American helicopter in Afghanistan and starts following the trail of secrets. What interests you most about the way small pieces of evidence can influence major intelligence investigations?

Modern tradecraft of the CIA and NSA surpasses my imagination. When the agencies are allied with Five Eyes and Mossad, these cyber sleuths can find a needle in a haystack. Tracing the origin of the unexploded Stinger missile posed a similar challenge, following a convoluted trail of clues. Some unexpected outcomes support an interesting story.

As the seventh installment in your series, how does Source Code build on the larger themes and experiences established in the earlier books?

All of my thriller novels have a common theme: facing threats. Each novel presents a different adversity, involving many of the same characters. They take you to places you’ve never been to manage the challenge. Hopefully, the reader will find themselves rooting for the characters in my novels. They develop with age, as do my storytelling skills. Historical background provides plenty of ideas to develop the larger theme. Real life is stranger than fiction. You can’t make this stuff up.

How does the novel explore the tension between protecting national security and ensuring that government agencies remain accountable for their actions?

Protecting national security should have guardrails. However, rogue characters will pursue nefarious outcomes as depicted in Source Code. Unfortunately, accountability is a non sequitur.

How does your approach to writing political and military thrillers compare with authors such as Tom Clancy, particularly in the use of technical detail and institutional realism?

I’d be honored to be compared to Tom Clancy, as one review suggested. Not anyone I know, but I appreciated the comment. But, to be honest, I’ve copied Clancy’s attention to technical details, as have other successful writers. Tom Clancy was in his own league. Currently, his style has inspired some of the outstanding authors in the thriller genre. Brad Thor, Mark Greaney, and Jack Carr come to mind.

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